Custom Image - For your individual image expression
DSLR 35 MM FULL FRAMEWhat is Custom Image?
All PENTAX digital SLR cameras currently on the market feature the creative Custom Image function*, which lets you alter the finishing touch of an image you’ve captured, just like changing the film type. In addition to the easy selection of the Custom Image mode best suited for a given scene or subject — one of the great advantages of digital photography — it also gives you the flexibility of customizing any selected Custom Image mode by shifting various parameters.
In a new approach to SLR photography, PENTAX has released four special edition Custom Images that, when combined with specific lenses from the PENTAX Limited series - lenses renowned for their distinctive image reproduction - provide a subject or scene-specific finishing touch. Once an appropriate lens is mounted, the camera automatically detects firmware compatibility and the user can then select the Special Edition Custom Images. More Information about this special edition custom image function please find here...
Effortless expression of the ideal tone and shade for each subject
The Custom Image function provides a choice of 12 distinctive modes: some of them are designed to produce conventional results, while others add creative, eye-catching effects. By selecting the Custom Image mode best suited for your subject or creative intention, you can push your creativity further than you imagined possible. Try these Custom Image modes, and experiment with their remarkable creative power.
* All the features and functions introduced in this article are based on PENTAX digital SLR cameras available as of June 2022. Older models may not provide some Custom Image modes and/or functions.
Distinctive features of Custom Image modes
Bright
Ideal for all types of scenic photography, this all-purpose mode emphasizes deep-blue skies and fresh, lively green leaves. Similar in appearance to one of the finishing touches featured in the *ist DS, this mode produces a solid image rendition symbolic of PENTAX colors, and is preferred by 60 percent of PENTAX camera users.
In comparison with the Natural mode, which provides a better overall color balance, the Bright mode provides a clear difference in the reproduction of blue skies and green leaves. Contrast and Sharpness parameters are set at -1 at default to enhance overall contrast.
The Bright mode not only enhances green tones, but also dramatizes red tones.
Natural
Ideal for all types of subjects, this mode provides a good balance of brightness and saturation for each light level, while assuring lively color reproduction that is true to the PENTAX tradition. This classic Custom Image mode is similar in appearance to one of the finishing touches first introduced with the *ist D, PENTAX’s first digital SLR camera.
Because the Bright mode provides low saturation in the brightness of blues, but high in the saturation of other colors, it tends to lose subtle shades in the subject. The Natural mode is ideal when you prefer neutral color reproduction.
Choose this mode for scenes in which the Bright mode would completely lose detail in shaded areas due to high-contrast reproduction — for instance, outdoor scenes in bright sunshine, and subjects requiring depiction of soft texture, such as an animal’s fur.
Portrait
Designed to capture lively portraits, this mode emphasizes magenta shades to create healthy skin tones in the subject. When you can’t decide which mode to use in portrait photography, try this mode first.
Rather than being faithful to the original colors, this mode captures the subject’s skin with slightly pinkish tones. When taking portraits in the studio, you may want to slightly reduce the saturation and contrast levels by using the Custom Image parameter setting function.
Landscape
Using the scenery-oriented Bright mode as its base, this mode produces richer blue and green shades. It also enhances yellow to dramatize colored leaves in autumn.
Since this mode is principally based on the Bright mode, the overall impression of captured images may not vary much, even though you can detect the difference in the scarlet tones of roofs and the greens in leaves. You can use these two modes interchangeably to suit your preference.
Compared with the Bright mode, this mode retains yellow hues in the highlight areas of the setting sun. Since these two modes are basically very similar in characteristics, you can choose the one that recreates desired colors.
These modes are perfect for reproducing the rich colors of autumn leaves.
Vibrant
This mode provides a finishing touch that emphasizes three primary colors — blue, green and red — to capture lively images of nature and scenery. Magenta-tinted blues create a clear, profound atmosphere, while the pure reds accurately reproduce the vivid vermillion of torii gateways at shrines. This mode is also useful in capturing scenes requiring true-to-life reproduction of magenta tones, such as the slightly purple-tinted skies found at twilight.
Slightly cyan-tinted bright greens are similar to the colors detected by the naked eye, and are ideal for expressing fresh, lively green leaves in spring.
When capturing autumn scenes, this mode produces colors slightly lighter than those of the Bright mode, delivering a more vibrant, livelier finishing touch.
Compared with the Bright mode, this mode recreates the sky with richer blues and a slightly brighter overall tone.
This mode provides a more dramatic finishing touch for slightly purple-tinted skies at twilight, more so than high-saturation Custom Image modes such as Bright and Landscape.
SATOBI
A Custom Image that provides a finishing tone similar to color photos from the 60 and 70s with colors such as distinctive cyan blue, dull yellow, and faded red.
The unique red expression is suitable for such as portrait photography. It conveys the image of a dry and desolate land and allows you to enjoy the expression of faded colors that bring back nostalgic memories of places.
The shades of the cyan blue sky and the texture of weathered rusted metal create a feeling of nostalgia and loneliness.
The expression that makes the red umbrella appear faded is distinctive. This Custom Image even enables you to feel the dry soil.
The texture of weathered buildings and unique shades of color with low saturation provide a finish that feels as though the flow of time has completely stopped.
Radiant
Even when compared to the color-rich finishing touches created by Bright, Landscape and Vibrant modes, this mode produces a truly distinctive finishing touch. High in saturation and contrast, it is designed to exaggerate each hue by raising initial key settings and deliver brighter images. Although this mode is characterized by its eye-catching color reproduction, it’s also useful in adding contrast to scenes set under flat-lit, cloudy skies.
Although the street is lined with richly colored buildings, the image captured by the Bright mode appears rather subdued.
By selecting the Radiant mode, you can capture a lively atmosphere more truthfully. Since the keys are set rather high at default, it provides a brighter finishing touch, especially for the neutral tones.
In this predawn scene on the left image, the Custom Image mode was set to Bright, while the exposure was shifted to slightly underexpose an image to bring out the mist. Because there is little illumination, however, the freshness of the green leaves and other details has been lost.
By selecting the higher-saturation Radiant mode, like on the right image, green leaves are reproduced more colorfully. Thanks to higher key settings, neutral tones and details are depicted more clearly and vividly. This mode is effective with scenes which standard finishing touches cannot fully describe because of an insufficient light level.
Muted
This mode produces a high-key, low-contrast finishing touch with toned-down saturation. The Key parameter of the Custom Image minute setting menu was added to reproduce the finishing touch of this Muted mode. It retains core colors ever after Saturation, Key and Contrast parameters have been adjusted. This mode also enables you to choose a tone from eight color options and shade the entire image with that particular tone to create a totally different finishing touch.
Captured in harsh sunlight, this image has rather dark shadows. In order to depict the lovely flowers, the Custom Image mode was set to Muted, with high-key, low-contrast parameters to produce a warm finishing touch.
Captured with a macro lens, this image has rather sharp details. By selecting the Muted mode and adding a yellow tone, the image was softened, as if captured under mild sunshine.
By adding a blue tone, the image was finished with a daydream-like impression. The Muted mode comes in handy in recreating a nostalgic atmosphere.
Flat
This Custom Image mode is designed with a retouching process in mind. Contrast is set to -4 at default to minimize contrast. Since it produces true-to-life images without color expansion, it simplifies post-shooting retouching work.
The parameters of the Muted mode are initially set low to reduce contrast. Because an image captured in this mode retains color data, it serves as a highly manageable photo material.
A JPEG-format image captured in the Muted mode is edited using a retouching application, raising the contrast and saturation levels and changing the blue tones in the sky. The image is effectively retouched, without excessively changing its overall impression.
Since this mode applies no color expansion, you can raise the Contrast parameter, which is set to the under side at default, and use it as a Custom Image mode which delivers true-to-life images close to those detected by the naked eye.
Bleach Bypass
This mode recreates low-key, high-contrast images with subdued colors, just like old films developed by the bleach bypass process. Although the Tone parameter is set to green at default, you can turn it off or change it to a different tone to experiment with various bleach bypass effects.
A motorcycle parked on the street is captured in a dramatic image. Since the Bleach Bypass mode produces a finishing touch with high contrast and subdued colors, it’s well suited for subjects such as metallic objects.
This image depicts autumn leaves that have fallen on a rusted zinc-coated roof. By opting for a low-key expression, all dark areas are captured in subdued colors for simplified composition.
Since the image is captured in just a few colors, the white in swans and clouds stands out. The Bleach Bypass mode provides a distinctive color expression, especially by depicting blue skies with refined colors.
Reversal Film
This mode is designed to express images with deep black and rich colors, just like those captured on reversal film. Its unique tone curve produces distinctive shades. It reproduces rich, true-to-life colors via contrast adjustment, rather than by arbitrarily raising the saturation level. To simulate the actual reversal film development process, it provides no adjustment function for Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and other parameters (except for Sharpness in minute setting function).
Since low-key images often have shadow areas that lack details, exposure control is a concern. The Reversal Film mode emphasizes green tones to produce sharp-contrast images.
Monochrome
This mode produces rich-gradation, monochrome images in black and white, or sepia. In addition to contrast control, you can also select the desired tone — pure black, warm tone and cool tone — to create a different impression for your image. With eight monochrome filters to choose from, you can even capture different types of images, as if photographing with monochrome film.
The standard tone curve is similar to that of Natural mode. Since there is no bias in brightness for each color, you can easily visualize the effect of the monochrome filters. Since these filters darken the areas with a color complementary to the filter effect name on the menu, they can partially raise contrast in those areas.
By adding a certain tone to the image, you can create a sepia-toned image or a blue-tinted, cool-tone image. You can even adjust the tone, step by step, to create the desired effect.
By setting the monochrome filter to yellow, you can lower the brightness of the blue sky — blue being the complementary color of yellow — to raise the contrast of the sky.
With the infrared film effect filter, it's making the blue sky appear darker and the green leaves brighter and whiter.
Cross Processing
This mode produces a finishing touch with distinctive colors and unique contrast, just like that created by the cross-processing technique in film. At default, it’s designed to shift the parameters of the finishing touch for each image, providing unexpected film development outcomes to digital images.
When you want to standardize the finishing touch for captured images, you can choose the preset mode from the menu and select one of three preset tones. You can even select as many as three favorite tones captured by the Cross Processing mode, and register them on the camera for instant recall.
Custom Image Function GOLD
This firmware adds the new Gold Custom Image mode to your camera. With scenes accentuated by light, this mode is designed to create gold-tinted images by applying yellow-toned finishes to brighter areas while expressing darker, shadow areas with bluish tones. Yellow tones become more intense in highlighted areas.
| Custom Image mode GOLD | Custom Image mode BRIGHT |
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smc PENTAX-FA 50mmF1.4 Classic
(with an ND filter provided as a standard accessory）
| Custom Image mode GOLD | Custom Image mode BRIGHT |
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HD PENTAX-FA 31mmF1.8 Limited
This new custom image function "GOLD" was originally planned for combination with the new smc PENTAX-FA 50mmF1.4 Classic. Together with the special image characteristics of this lens, this makes a perfect combination. At the request of many Pentax photographers, with previous limited pre-sets, this image setting is available for all lenses.
Special-edition Custom Images
In a new approach to SLR photography, PENTAX has released four special edition Custom Images that, when combined with specific lenses from the PENTAX Limited series - lenses renowned for their distinctive image reproduction - provide a subject or scene-specific finishing touch.
Once an appropriate lens is mounted, the camera automatically detects firmware compatibility and the user can then select the Special Edition Custom Images.
The Special Edition Custom Images settings optimise typical image parameters according to the seasons:
Spring - HARUBENI
Summer - KATEN
Autumn - KYUSHU
Winter - FUYUNO
However, these options can also be used independently of the season to give the shots an individual image impression.
Special-edition Custom Images HARUBENI (Spring Rouge)
This special-edition, season-specific Custom Image mode is designed to emphasize the pinkish colors of cherry blossoms — the hint of the arrival of spring — and the subdued blue colors of hazy spring skies.
Compared with the Bright mode, HARUBENI strengthens reddish shades and reduces bluish shades to highlight the faintly pinkish cherry blossoms.Also by raising the contrast level, it captures the center of the blossoms — such as the pistils — more clearly, without losing the soft texture of the petals.The result is that it delivers a sharp image with a well-depicted sense of depth.
Thanks to the strengthened reddish shades, blossoms and branches in the foreground are captured more brilliantly, while the haziness of distant scenery in the background is faithfully retained. It enhances a sense of sharpness in the overall impression of images.
Menu screen
When a lens is mounted, the camera automatically checks for compatibility, then displays the HARUBENI-specific menu screen.
This mode can be selected in combination with:
Compatible cameras:
PENTAX K-1 Mark II
PENTAX K-1
PENTAX K-3 Mark III
PENTAX KF
Compatible lenses:
HD PENTAX-FA 77mmF1.8 Limited
HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mmF2.8-4ED Limited DC WR
Special-edition Custom Images KYUSHU
This special-edition, season-specific Custom Image mode is designed to partner with the Limited-series lenses that allow the user to capture a range of scenes and subjects of autumn beautifully and effortlessly. Captured images provide distinctive color renditions that express the passing of autumn and the fleeting feeling of the season.
Compared with the Bright mode, this mode creates more subdued reddish shades close to vermillion, slightly faded reddish-yellow shades with low brightness levels, and deep bluish-green shades. While the SATOBI Custom Image mode expresses autumn scenes with somewhat flat tones, the KYUSHU mode more vividly stresses autumn colors while toning down the saturation level.
The KYUSHU mode produces vermillion-shaded reds and bluish greens. While it captures images with subdued colors and toned-down saturation, the resulting image still retains typical autumn colors without becoming too flat.
Menu screen
When a lens is mounted, the camera automatically checks for compatibility, then displays the KYUSHU-specific menu screen.
This mode can be selected in combination with:
Compatible cameras:
PENTAX K-1 Mark II
PENTAX K-1
PENTAX K-3 Mark III
PENTAX KF
Compatible lenses:
HD PENTAX-FA 43mmF1.9 Limited
HD PENTAX-DA 21mmF3.2AL Limited
HD PENTAX-DA 40mmF2.8 Limited
HD PENTAX-DA 70mmF2.4 Limited
Special-edition Custom Images KATEN (Summer Sky)
This special-edition, season-specific Custom Image mode is designed to emphasize the colors most closely associated with summer scenes, such as the rich blues of summer skies and the fine details of dazzling white clouds.
Compared with the Bright mode, this mode more clearly emphasizes contrast in highlight and shadow areas, while retaining fine details in highlight areas — even in extremely high-contrast scenes. This means it more vividly depicts white details and delivers dramatic, eye-catching summertime images.
It also emphasizes red-tinted deep blues to capture more vivid images of distant scenes, and cyan-tinted greens to better depict the vibrant, lush green tones of summertime trees.
This image superbly depicts a clear, blue summer sky and powerful summertime sunshine, using red-tinted deep blues in the sky; a high-contrast, fine-detailed description of dazzling white clouds; and slightly cyan-tinted rich greens in the trees.
By emphasizing highlights and shadows, the KATEN mode more truthfully portrays the intensity of light to create more dramatic, higher-contrast images.
Menu screen
When a lens is mounted, the camera automatically checks for compatibility, then displays the KATEN-specific menu screen.
This mode can be selected in combination with:
This mode can be selected in combination with:
Compatible cameras:
PENTAX K-1 Mark II
PENTAX K-1
PENTAX K-3 Mark III
PENTAX KF
Compatible lenses:
HD PENTAX-D FA 21mmF2.4ED Limited DC WR
HD PENTAX-DA 15mmF4ED AL Limited
Special-edition Custom Images FUYUNO (winter field)
This special-edition, season-specific Custom Image mode is designed to to deliver sharp, high-key images, allowing the photographer to emphasize the colors associated with the chilly air of winter.
Compared with the Bright mode, this mode creates more subdued hues, creating clear, crisp images and expressing the freezing-cold feel of the winter season. While toning down the saturation level, it tints images with reddish browns and slightly bluish whites to deliver a finishing touch different from those created by the Faint and SATOBI modes.
FUYUNO’s high-key image enhances the whiteness of the snow and the glare of highlighted areas, while softening the contrast in shadowed areas. It creates the impression of winter’s weak sunlight, in contrast to the harsh light of the Bright mode. Since white areas are tinted with slightly bluish shades at a subdued saturation level, the shadow areas with higher color temperatures are depicted with colors that hint at the colder months.
The brownish colors of leafless trees are tinged with red. While the saturation level is low, they create a sharp contrast with green-leafed trees. The white areas of snow-covered mountains are captured with a high-key tone to create the impression of frigid winter scenes.
Menu screen
When a lens is mounted, the camera automatically checks for compatibility, then displays the FUYUNO-specific menu screen.
This mode can be selected in combination with:
This mode can be selected in combination with:
Compatible cameras:
PENTAX K-1 Mark II
PENTAX K-1
PENTAX K-3 Mark III
PENTAX KF
Compatible lenses:
HD PENTAX-FA 31mmF1.8 Limited
HD PENTAX-DA 35mm F2.8 Macro Limited
If you have an own Instagram account, feel free to share these special images, using the hashtags: #pentax_satobi, #pentax_katen, #pentax_kyushu, #pentax_fuyuno, #pentax_harubeni
We'll be happy to share your images on our Instagram channel @ pentax.photography.official/.
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